7 Weeks later

I have had a busy week.  My energy is back, yippee and I just feel better.  I am able to do everything in my schedule; like today I left the house at 8:30am and I got home tonight at midnight (it's not usually that extreme).  I felt happy today, and realizing that made me feel even happier since it has been awhile.

As this week began I was able to wash the sides of my face for the first time with my usual face cleansing bar, scrub, and dry the sides of my face with a towel.  Baby steps, but an improvement all the same.

I was surprised to discover on 10/20/14  that a bad habit of mine is gone forever.  Whenever my fingernails became chipped, I would chew them even again.  When my fingernail tore today, I was unable to bite it off.  The repaired 7 teeth, 4 on top and 3 on the bottom, are too thick, and rounded.  I guess that is a positive thing.

I attended my FFL fit for life class on 10/20/14, where we lift weights, do floor exercise, and yoga.  I have to be careful about moving my head quickly, I have trouble balancing, and I have to support my neck with my hand.  Then, I went to Apple Athletic Club, which was my usual routine before my accident.  I walked on the elliptical for 20 minutes and didn't get very far (so I don't want to say what a short distance it was).  Before my accident I was jogging, but hey, it's a start.

APPOINTMENT WITH MY SURGEON DOCTOR 10/21/14
My doctor thinks I am doing very well and healing great.  He reminded me that I had severe facial trauma, which leads me to my next discovery; I wanted him to do surgery on my mouth this Thursday.  And my doctor said, "I put stitches there in your gum line on purpose.  It was necessary, the damage from the outside was actually a hole clear through to the nasal area.  I had to gather tissue inside your mouth and attach it above the hole, which was just above your teeth on the gum line.  It wouldn't be too great to have liquid come out your nose every time you drank liquids." Therefore he wanted to wait 3 to 4 weeks before attempting to fix this problem to allow more time for tissue, nerve, and bone growth.  So I have an appointment 3 weeks from now to see how it can be improved.  Because I have been healing so well, I forgot how severe the damage was.  It was kind of hard news to take, but I have to be thankful to have all my teeth-so far.  The 2 teeth cracked through the root have not died, and the couple of loose teeth have tightened in my gums.  I think the most damaged areas are what is still swollen, most of the left side of my mouth/lips, the bottom half of my nose and the area leading from my nose to the left corner of my mouth.  My surgeon did a great job, and I have been healing incredibly.  It's just hard to be patient and not have a normal face.

He reminded me that my full recovery will take a year to 18 months. 

My doctor also talked to me about staying out of the sun for the next YEAR, to always wear a hat and sunscreen.  Holy cow, a year.....that is a long time.  When I left my doctor's office I went to Macy's and bought a new hat.  Mark made fun of it, said I looked like the flying nun.  The salesgirl helped me choose it, and I got the one with the widest brim, because my leopard hat brim is not very wide and I would have to tip my head to keep the sun from falling on my lower nose.  Oh well, think positive.  I saw my primary care doctor yesterday and she told me she has another patient thrown from a horse a couple years ago and now the woman has epileptic seizures and other problems..

So my health update is: my headaches aren't as bad, not much changed with my face (and my doctor told me to expect that), and now that I am more active my neck is really sore and is bothering me.  Overall, I feel like a walking miracle. 

During Week 6

On Saturday, October 11th,  the left side of my mouth began to move. I was so excited!  That means I don't have permanent nerve damage :) And my doctor had said it could take up to a year.

 

On Wednesday, October 15th, I could turn my head to the left!  Previously to look to the left, I would have to turn my whole body to the left.

I had a great week.  October 11th was our 17th anniversary.  We had a nice dinner out with my sister Pam and her husband Danny in Logan and later we played a dice game together.  Then we headed for Las Vegas.  My sister and her daughter Chloe went with us at the last moment.  It was wonderful.  While Mark spent 3 days in classes, I had someone  to spend time with, challenge me, keep me going, and swim with.  I loved the pool at the hotel, it had a shark aquarium in the center.  And I enjoyed napping by the pool with my hat over my face.  I wear a silly hat outdoors, because the sun can affect my facial scars.

The swelling seems to get a little less each week, I was less dizzy this week, but my headache rarely disappears. While driving to Las Vegas, I wore a pair of sunglasses, but it caused a blood blister on my tender and sore nose.  I try to focus on the miracles I have been blessed with, and how much I have improved.  And I am thankful for all the support (sometimes literally) that my husband, Mark Van Sickle, has been giving me.

More Dental work

 Well, I was wrong.  My dental work wasn't finished.  After they fixed my upper 4 teeth that are damaged, I realized that there were 3 teeth on the bottom that had been damaged and slightly chipped.  So today the dentist fixed those.  But, we also made a discovery; my mouth, and lip area are still swollen, numb, tingly and so we hadn't realized, but on the left side, the upper left lip healed to the gums just barely above the teeth.  So even if I could feel the left side of my mouth, I couldn't move it properly or smile correctly.  So now I need surgery to correct that.  bummer.

I've really been struggling this week with dizziness.  I'm hoping it's because I was feeling better, more normal, and wanting to be up doing things and going places.  And the headaches haves been terrible.  But I'm good, my face is slowly healing each day.

 I never did post a picture of my face.  This was taken when I was prepped for surgery on Septmember 5, 2014.

 And this picture shows one of the chipped front teeth. One of the other damaged teeth was chipped worse than this one.

Thyroid Nodules

Well, I went in for an MRI on my thyroid on Monday, and after spending 3 hours there, they couldn't get a clear picture and decided their machine was malfunctioning.

Mark and Amber wanted me to get a second opinion about my thyroid so I made an appointment with Amber's doctor, Carl Vance, M.D., who specializes in the practice of Endocrinology with a focus on Diabetes and disease of the thyroid, including thyroid cancer.  So on Tuesday I had an appointment with him.  I'm so glad that I went and I feel much better about things.  He told me the biopsy was only done on the large nodule which is 2cm and the biopsy was O.K. At this time nothing more will be done about my thyroid.  He wants to watch it with an ultra sound every 6 months to see if it grows. I had an ultra sound on 9/6/14 when the biopsy was done. He also told me my surgeon, Dr. Richard Lee,  is one of the best.  The reason we don't just go ahead and remove the nodule is because 5 to 10% of the time (when you have a good surgeon) the vocal chords can be damaged or paralyzed.  25% chance when you have a poor surgeon. So thank you Amber and Mark for urging me to make an appointment with Dr. Vance.

So I am still slowly healing, can't get rid of my headache, and worried about being in the sun.  Sun is bad for healing incisions and scarring.  So I got out my old leopard old today that I bought in Disneyland years ago.  But the great thing is -I feel like getting outside in the sun.  I talk to my friend Patty Christensen quite often, which makes the trials I have on a daily basis seem trivial.  She had a double mastectomy on September 15th and she starts chemo next week.  I tried to nod my head today while talking with some one, and holy cow, I can't even do that without it causing pain and dizziness. It is hard being patient while my head and body recovers.  I am excited to go with Mark to Nevada next week.  We leave this Sunday morning.

Dental complete 32 days later

I'm feeling more like myself today.  But the headache is still with me.
I had my dental work done today, I'm thrilled, my teeth feel and look better and I'm done with my teeth :)  Worst case scenarios did not happen, it's just that I can't bite things like "frozen snickers" as the dentist put it.  It was the upper 4 front teeth that were damaged. And two of the teeth aren't solid yet, still a little loose, but that should improve.  I'm glad he was able to do the work, the left side of my mouth is still really swollen.

I talked to a friend at the Post Office today whose father-in-law was on the ride.  He told her that they had thought that I was going to die there on the mountain.  The group of 25 people I was with had to wait until the helicopter left before they mounted their horses to return to the stables.  And I've been told that I laid on the cold ground for 2 hours and I was shivering.  Then he said that they were afraid I wouldn't make it to EIRMC on the life flight.  I am grateful for all the protection and miracles the Lord has blessed me with.

3 weeks after hospital release

October 1, 2014

1:15pm I had a 2 week follow up appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Richard Lee.  We talked about my injuries and then about my thyroid, which he seems to be really concerned about. He told me to massage my entire face 20 times a day, that we need to get rid of the swelling.  Face massage should start at 4 weeks and go sometimes as long as 4 months.  My left nostril is healing, swollen, and still has stitches in it, and it is deviated.  That we would probably be doing surgery on my nose sometime in December.  He wants me to change from plain Vaseline to a Eurcerin ointment for my face.  That my headaches should go away at 4 weeks, but could last up to 4 months. That the nerve to the left of my nose, above my mouth may take up to a year to improve. My face has improved again during the last week: I can feel my whole bottom lip - although a lot of it is tingly.  At least it is not just numb.  My teeth have stopped hurting.  The scabs have done a lot of healing. And most importantly, for the first 3 weeks I felt constantly as if a truck had just hit me in the face, and that has gone away.

Dr. Lee said he thought we should do surgery on my thyroid, to do a partial removal and get rid of the lumps.  I said nothing, so he decided the best thing to do was MRI with dye next Monday.  I need to go in a couple hours early to get blood tests done.

So the story with my thyroid is:  During the CT scan on the day of my accident on September 5th they saw a large lump on my thyroid.  A FNA biopsy was scheduled for Saturday morning.

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy. Nodules are often biopsied to make sure no cancer is present. FNA biopsy helps to distinguish between benign and malignant thyroid nodules. During the procedure, your doctor inserts a very thin needle in the nodule and removes a sample of cells. Often, your doctor will use ultrasound to help guide the placement of the needle. The samples are then sent to a laboratory and analyzed under a microscope.

Dr. Richard Lee suggested surgery because there is more than one lump:

Surgery. Occasionally, a nodule that's clearly benign may require surgery. Surgery is also considered for people with large multinodular goiters. Nodules diagnosed as indeterminate or suspicious by a biopsy also need surgical removal, so they can be examined for signs of cancer.

Amber’s suggestions: Get a 2^nd opinion from Dr. Vance (and Mark had already said he wanted me to get a second opinon).  Get copies from EIRMC from my first biopsy on Sept. 6^th.  Call to schedule a biopsy to occur at the same time as the MRI next Monday.  All this really worries me.